(no subject)

[sanura]

To: Voice Students at the Shepherd School
Fr: Richard Bado, Director of Opera Studies

I hope you are all having a good summer and have found time for some relaxation.

Here is some information regarding the opera department for the next school year as well as the schedule for the fall auditions for all voice students.

We've chosen Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera as the fall opera. The work will be performed in the original Italian with recitatives. For those cast in the opera, please purchase the Barenreiter edition of the piano/vocal score. We will send the cuts within the next few weeks. As this is a very long work, there will be lots of cuts. You will be expected to have translated the opera and to know your role when classes begin in August. Coachings will begin immediately when the fall semester begins.

There will be 2 casts for Finta. The breakdown of casts will not be determined until music rehearsals begin in the fall.

The casting for Finta is as follows:

Sandrina - Angela Mortellaro/Bethany Solheim
Serpetta - Laura Botkin/Lindsay Kesselman
Arminda - Adrianna Bond/Angela Trusty
Ramiro - Sarah Brauer/Jennifer Johnson
Count Belfiore - Aaron Blake/Ross Chitwood
Podestà - Keith Stonum/John Summers
Nardo - Colm Estridge/Jamie Geiger

The spring opera will be determined after the auditions in the fall.

We will be producing a Holiday Opera Gala in December which will perform for one evening in Duncan Hall. This will be a fund raiser for the school. More details to follow.

The school has a new ensemble policy for voice students. Those students who are cast in principal roles of an opera will not participate in a choral ensemble that semester. The opera will fulfill their ensemble requirement. So for the fall semester, the 14 students cast in Finta will not participate in a choral ensemble. However, those students should still be enrolled in Chorale. Grades for those will be determined by the Opera Department.

Here are some details about the first week of classes. On Tuesday, August 29th from 3:00-6:00pm, all voice majors will sing for the entire voice and opera faculty in Duncan Recital Hall. You should prepare one selection for that audition which you feel shows you off the best. Please sign up for this audition at the receptionist's desk on the 2nd floor. The sign-up sheet will be there beginning 2 weeks before the start of the semester.

On Thursday, August 31, all members of Opera Workshop Class will sing for one another during the 4:00-7:00pm class time.

Here are the opera performance dates for the upcoming school year:

La Finta Giardiniera

November 8, 2006 - 7:30pm - A Cast
November 9, 2006 - 7:30pm - B Cast
November 11, 2006 - 7:30pm - A Cast
November 12, 2006 - 2:30pm - B Cast

Holiday Opera Gala

December 2, 2006 - evening

Opera Scenes Program

February 2, 2007 - 7:30pm
February 3, 2007 - 7:30pm
February 4, 2007 - 2:30pm

Spring Opera Production (TBA)

March 23, 2007 - 7:30pm
March 24, 2007 - 7:30pm
March 26, 2007 - 7:30pm
March 27, 2007 - 7:30pm

Have a good remainder of the summer.



I recognize only five of the names of those cast. That means either that there are a bazillion new grad students, or that incoming freshmen beat out the rest of us for roles. Or just that I suck at remembering names. Anyway, if memory serves me right, there is no chorus in a Mozart opera, so, lookit that! I'm safe to do Into the Woods!

Dan just informed me that he got an offer to go to Indiana U. What, is he going to take it? And abandon us all?

Comments

[kleverkira.livejournal.com]

I only know five of the names too. I'm going with the theory of a bazillion new grad students, particularly if you look at the e-mail addresses.

I'm looking at it as I'm free to have a life! I'm so glad that we know now. It makes all of my proclamations of, I'll do such-and-such...if I don't get cast in the opera, valid!

[sanura.livejournal.com]

So, there's no chorus, right?

[kleverkira.livejournal.com]

I would assume not.
a) It's early Mozart.
b) There was nothing on the casting that said Chorus: TBA or anything like that.

[sanura.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! I mean, it sucks I'm not in the opera, but, as you said, a life!

[green-ecstasy.livejournal.com]

Ross Chitwood is from Juilliard. I don't know him personally but I know who he is from a summer camp a bazillion years ago.

Other than that I only know the same 5 as you.

[parkertime.livejournal.com]

Dan better damn well not be leaving us! Why would he go to indiana U? It can't be as prestigious as shepherd, i dont think money is an issue, and there are WAY more gays at rice for sure. And im SO glad you can do into the woods! makes me wanna audition..

[sanura.livejournal.com]

You mean you're not going to? Come on, it's not like you can't do homework during a rehearsal. Don't let your hour load get you down. We'll be panicking studiers together.

[sanura.livejournal.com]

As I've discovered, the Indiana thing was an offer for a grad-school audition. So he's not leaving. Good.

[pvabaritony.livejournal.com]

Aaactually there are choruses in a few Mozart operas, most prominantly Magic Flute and Cosi Fan Tutti, but in this one a chorus isn't required.

[sanura.livejournal.com]

As Kira said, it's early Mozart, therefore the choruses have not yet been incorporated. And if we're being precise here, I'll remind you it's Cosi fan tutte with an E. And since I'm correcting you, I'll also remind you that prominently is spelled with an E. Excuse my for my knee-jerk copyediting.